Friday’s Dateline Episode Promises New Information in Idaho Quadruple Murder
For the second week in a row, NBC’s Dateline will profile an unspeakable crime committed in Idaho. Less than 24 hours after the man suspected of killing four University of Idaho students was indicted by a grand jury, the news magazine announced that “The Killings on King Road” would be their next new episode.
Last week, Dateline churned out a new episode titled “The Trial of Lori Vallow Daybell” within hours of an Ada County Jury finding her guilty on all counts of conspiracy, murder and grand theft related to the deaths of her two children, JJ and Tylee and her husband’s late wife, Tammy.
That episode revealed some things about the case we’d never seen or heard before like police station footage of Lori, Tylee and Alex Cox giving interviews at an Arizona police station after Cox shot Vallow’s ex-husband, Charles Daybell. They shared more of Chad Daybell’s erotic novel he wrote for Lori than we ever wanted to hear. And they finally answered a question that all of us had been wondering…where was Lori getting make-up? (She was making her lips look red using Jolly Ranchers.)
This week, they promise viewers in Idaho even more new information, this time connected to the murders of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in Moscow. The preview of the new Dateline episode was released after Bryan Kohberger, the loan suspect in the case, was indicted by a grand jury.
Since the case went before a grand jury, Kohberger’s preliminary hearing has been canceled. During that hearing, a judge would’ve decided if there was enough evidence to proceed to trial. In a grand jury proceeding, the jurors only hear from the prosecution. The defendant and their legal team are not present. Based on what they hear, they can move to indict the defendant and summon them to paper in court for arraignment and that’s what they did for Kohberger.
He’ll have his first opportunity to enter a guilty or non-guilty plea on Monday, May 22. It is possible that he could face the death sentence, but the prosecution would need to file a written notice that they intend to pursue that within 60 days of Kohberger making his plea.
But before any of this happens, we’ll get to see that episode of Dateline. While responding to fans asking if this was a re-run of the episode of the one that aired in January, Shane Bishop, a National Broadcast Producer at NBC Universal said:
“We have a lot of new reporting and some real bombshells never before reported by anyone. And great new interviews with forensic psychologist and profiler—whose profile before the arrest matched BK almost to a tee”
The new episode will also include exclusive information about the murder weapon, the untold real story behind two curious traffic stops that were made while Kohberger and his dad were driving from Washington state to Pennsylvania and new details about another incident that host Keith Morrison described as “disturbing.”
While we were writing this article, Dateline posted an extended preview of the episode. You can watch it below: